BY TIM PARSONS
Chris Eubank jr showed his higher quality in outclassing tough and durable Nick Blackwell after 10 solid rounds of competitive boxing in which he was head for most of the fight. Blackwell was tough and generally well composed in the ring, showing good defensive skills whilst coming forward in an attempt to control and win an important fight like this.
Middleweight champion, Billy Joe Saunders, and world heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, had both showed up in the ring in vain before the kick off, to show their allegiance to Blackwell who is a member of the travelling community. Saunders who holds a win over Eubank jr, clearly detests Eubank enough not to have given him any credit before this fight took place.
But the superiority of Eubank jr over the former British champion was all clear to see as he dominated a lot of the fight with a series of tasty uppercuts, and grinding body shots. Eubank Jr did not always dominate with ease, but was caught in a war for sections of the fights as his durable and reasonably skillful opponent made a fight of the night in a failed attempt to keep his title and impress his travelling crew at ringside.
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Eubank(22-1, 17Ko’s) had inflicted plenty of damage on Blackwell’s(19-4-1 (8ko’s)face and body to the extent
that his left eye developed an ugly swell that was so unsightly, only a warrior of his sort could fight through it. However, Blackwell has to be rescued from his own strong will by Victor Loughlin by the 10th round, as he was now looking a dangerous state. That dangerous state soon manifested itself when Blackwell collapsed at the end of the fight in what was reminiscent of what happened a few decades back when Michael Watson collapsed after being knocked out by Chris Eubank Snr in the 12th round of a very tough fight.
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Blackwell will hopefully recover from this, and live to fight another day and credit the better man for winning. As for the visible animosity between Saunders and Eubank jnr, a rematch down the line will be a good sell. The mutual bad blood between them was obvious before and during the fight, even though they have had their day in the ring against each other. What mattered tonight is that Eubank jnr showed himself to be a class above Blackwell, though his main challenge now may be his toughest- to become the best in the world in his division.
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